PlayStation Home will be briefly offline from 8AM BST on Wednesday 25th July for routine maintenance. Here is what to expect after the update…

VEEMEE are proud to announce the release of No Man’s Land - a new free-to-play PlayStation Home game that transports you to a post-apocalyptic land that has known only war for decades. Through this devastated wasteland, you must scavenge to survive while confronting tribes of heavily armed enemies focused on their own survival.

No Man’s Land is a multiplayer third-person tactical shooter, featuring a cover-based movement system and 4v4 team battles. Following the completion of a tutorial session, the player is given an introductory loadout that allows access to the Drydock and the game. Armour and weapon upgrades can be purchased in a variety of combinations, which will be added to & developed in time.

The Environment and the Cover System

The cover-to-cover movement system is a deliberate departure from the usual run-and-gun gameplay of many other third-person shooters. No Man’s Land promotes the idea that in order to survive, “cover is king.” The cover control system makes moving between cover natural and fluid. Players can queue additional cover moves or interrupt any move at any time to divert to another cover position. This results in players making frantic dashes between pieces of cover, often taking evasive action when under fire, so they can reach the relative safety of the next cover point. It means players have to think ahead: where they want to be, which direction they want to shoot from, and where their teammates are. This encourages players to work as a team to provide covering fire for each other as they advance and sprint between cover points.

Armour and Weapons

VEEMEE decided to make use of the Home avatars to increase the player’s connection with the in-game No Man’s Land survivor, which means that your Home avatar will strap on armour while its other physical features remain intact. Plus you can wear it out of the space into the game world too! We all love character customisation so have been keen to offer as much flexibility here as possible.

Armour comes in several variants, increasing in weight and damage absorption properties. Heavier armour will slow survivor movement between cover, but it will be able to absorb more damage. You choose between speed of movement and the damage protection.

It is possible to mix and match all the armour pieces into whichever configuration you require. Light armour for hands and feet? Medium for legs and torso? Heavy for the head? You decide. The weight, speed and damage absorption properties for your character are then calculated appropriately.

Right from the start, the intention was to make No Man’s Land as flexible as possible: from the grenade variants, to the customisable armour loadouts, to the four-weapon carrying system. This means that players can buy any combination of weapons and armour to fit their playing style, while offering a variety of visual styles.

Game Modes

There are two modes of play: Scavengers and Team Deathmatch. Team Deathmatch is the time-tested ‘kill-every-enemy-that-moves’ game mode. In the Scavengers game mode teams must collect salvage packs from the depleted cityscape. These resources are all that are left of the old world. Each team must bring all the salvage to their ‘salvage dump’ before the other team does. This game mode is essentially capture the flag, but with multiple flags. Players earn points for placing salvage on their team’s salvage dump, for stealing enemy salvage, and for simply killing the enemy.

We hope you have a great time playing No Man’s Land! We look forward to hearing what you think so we can continue to evolve this unique, free, and first of its kind console game.

We’ve also just been handed a note from the Casino Management:

Let the summer games begin! Cheer on your athletes with a flag from your country courtesy of The Casino. Simply stop by and be automatically rewarded with this hand item totally free!

We’ve also added an all new top tier reward. If you earn, or have earned, 500,000 chips you will be rewarded the Armoured Car sidekick. Take this vehicle wherever you go to ensure your chips are always protected.

There’s also an all new reward in the Lucky Fountain – win it while before it’s retired!

There’s plenty to do in The Casino this week, so come on by and hang out with us.

Sincerely,

- The Management

SEGA Europe would like to announce the launch of Renegade Ops: Preboot – a great new Arcade Cabinet for PlayStation Home. Renegade Ops: Preboot is a 16-bit, top-down, twin-stick shooter with 15 challenging levels to play though! It is available for purchase in the VEEMEE and Stuff stores.

Owners of the Arcade Cabinet also receive 6 great bonus virtual items including a Helicopter Companion, a Tank Table and the fantastic Explosion active item.

Existing owners of the Renegade Ops PSN title, can get the Renegade Ops: Preboot Arcade Cabinet and virtual items for FREE! Just visit one of the stores selling the items to receive your 'thank you' gift from SEGA. For a limited period the Renegade Ops: Preboot – Arcade Cabinet is also available free-to-play in Home Square, Indie Park, The Bowling Alley and the Action District.

New from Granzella this week - introducing the Jinbei series of Japanese casualwear! The spacious, well-ventilated Jinbei is cool and comfortable even in the hot summer. Available in 3 colours each: For men, Indigo, Grey, and Black Stripe. For Women, Peach Flower, Sky Grey Flower, and Black Flower. Beat the heat in a cool, relaxing Japanese style outfit!

Konami also continues their popular Gothic line with new clothing for women and men.